In the shower, a man closed his eyes, letting the water droplets soak his entire body.
He stretched both hands out to the wall, took a deep breath, and muttered to himself, "I think this is better."
After the shower, the man stepped out, a towel wrapped around his waist, and ran another towel through his hair.
He stood in front of a rectangular mirror.
His body was a map of old battles, every sinewy muscle and faded scar a testament to his past.
After drying his hair, he put on casual clothes and went to the balcony, a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
He opened the pack and leaned against the fifth-floor railing.
A gentle breeze swept past him.
Lighting a match, he said, "Look at you all, you're like these cigarettes. If I want to, I'll burn you and smoke you until you're gone."
He took a long drag and exhaled, a cloud of smoke dissolving into the air.
The man lost himself in a daydream, his eyes fixed on the beautiful city view.
He whispered to himself, "I'll start over in this beautiful city. Looks like there are a lot of girls I want to conquer."
He smiled, a cigarette between his lips, and added, "It's been a long time since I felt this peace. Huh!"
A few minutes later, his smartphone vibrated on his nightstand.
There was no sound, only a persistent buzz.
The man put out his cigarette, tossed it into the trash, and went back into his room.
He grabbed the phone and cursed under his breath, "Impatient fool! So annoying!"
The phone screen showed the name "Byeon Ji" as the caller.
The man picked up and asked, "What is it? Has our plan been exposed?"
"No, Bos. Everything's under control. I've also bribed a few cops. Our drug smuggling operation is going great. It's just that we got intel that our organization isn't the only one doing this. We might have a territorial dispute. What do you think, Bos?" Byeon Ji's voice crackled through the speaker.
The man walked to the corner of the room and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.
He squinted, his mind racing. 'Six months, and already they're breathing down my neck,' he thought, the calm facade slipping. 'A head-on fight... we'd be slaughtered. I need more intel. Every advantage counts.'
He answered in a firm voice, "Relax! Can you find out more? If you can, don't be too obvious, and be careful."
"Yes, Bos. Thank you for your time. Enjoy your beautiful day," Byeon Ji said before hanging up.
The man stared at his phone.
It was no ordinary phone; the internals and software had been modified.
It also had an anti-tracking device, a small chip connected to a machine and a large battery.
The man stood up and put the phone back in its place.
Then he bent down and looked under his bed, pulling out a medium-sized black suitcase.
He dialed the key code and opened it.
Inside the case were many small devices, a pistol, complete with ammunition and a cleaning kit.
The man's new apartment was now a fortress, filled with hidden cameras he had placed in various corners and small spots.
He also had a dispenser-sized tower with a wired antenna extending to the balcony.
He took out the pistol and dismantled it piece by piece.
He grabbed the cleaning kit and meticulously cleaned every part of the dismantled gun.
After half an hour, the pistol was reassembled.
It now looked clean and new.
He took a magazine and loaded the bullets into it.
Then, the man inserted the magazine into the now-pristine pistol.
He also tidied up the cleaning supplies, put them back into the suitcase, and stored it under the bed.
The man stood up and walked to the closet, grabbing a leather jacket.
He changed his shirt to a T-shirt and put on the leather jacket.
He hid the pistol in his jacket, which had four pockets.
In each pocket was a knife and other tools.
After putting on all his gear, he stood straight in front of the mirror, wearing a black hat and a mask that covered most of his face.
He put the cigarette pack in his pocket and walked out of the room, saying to himself, "I'm going to have some fun today."
Before that, he had already placed an anti-theft detector behind the apartment door.
He then walked to the elevator, went inside, pressed button one to go down, and left the building.
Once outside, the man turned to the west, walking towards a city park.
Halfway there, he squinted, glancing at a suspicious black car with reflective windows that made it hard to see inside.
His instincts told him it was a surveillance vehicle.
The man walked casually, paying attention to the car he had passed.
He tried to find a nearby supermarket to buy a lighter and a soda.
After arriving at the supermarket, the man looked at the side of the road.
As it turned out, he was indeed being followed by the suspicious black car.
However, the man tried to act natural.
He asked a couple who were talking casually in front of the supermarket about a soda. "Is that soda good?" he asked, pointing at the man's drink.
The couple was startled by the big, burly man with a voice as deep as a roaring lion. The man answered nervously, "Sorry, I can't really say, but I think it's good. This soda isn't very well known, but I just like it."
The woman next to him looked scared.
With her right hand under the table, she grabbed her boyfriend's hand and held it tightly.
She tried to make eye contact with her partner and said to herself, 'You're so brave, my love, but if we make a mistake, we might get killed.'
After that, the man stayed silent and tried to look away from the big man.
"Thank you," the man said.
Then he went into the supermarket, glanced at the road, and mumbled to himself, 'Hmmm... He found me so fast. Is he from that organization they mentioned?'
"Welcome!"
The voice came from the cashier.
The couple tried to move away. The boyfriend said, "Honey, didn't you see that man? He doesn't seem to be from South Korea, and there's a dragon tattoo on the back of his right hand. Maybe he's a mafia or a gangster."
The woman replied, "I only saw it for a second, my love. But don't assume that a person with a tattoo is a gangster. Let's just go somewhere else. I'm a little scared if he comes back here."
They both hurried away from their seats.
The man walked to the cooler, where there were many drinks.
He chose the soda he had pointed at earlier and took it to the cashier.
"Got a lighter?" he asked.
The cashier, who was scanning the drink, was startled.
He felt intimidated. He took a lighter from behind him and said, "H-here, sir. Please wait a moment. I'll wrap it."
The man interrupted, "Don't bother wrapping it. Just tell me the total." He tapped the cashier's table.
The cashier replied, "Fifteen won, sir."
He handed the items over. The man took some money from his wallet in his pocket, gave it to the cashier, and walked out of the supermarket.
The man saw the black car still waiting for him across the street.
He kept walking towards the park, where he was supposed to make a transaction.
However, he tried to find an alley near the hotel, not far from the supermarket.
The man tried to lure them into a dark place, waiting for the people in the suspicious car to come out and look for him.
The man hid inside a trash bin.
He wasn't disgusted by the pungent smell.
He closed the bin, peeking through the gaps of the lid.
A few minutes later, the sound of leather shoes was clearly heard.
He said something, but the voice was faint, "I have found the man. He's somewhere around here."
The man was wearing a suit like an office worker and had a listening device in his ear.
He wore black glasses like an intel agent, held a pistol, and walked carefully, looking around.
The man in hiding gripped the pistol in his leather jacket.
He thought to himself, 'So intel agents on this island are this sharp. Looks like one of my subordinates was caught red-handed. This is very bad.'
Then, the intel agent began to speak, "Where are you? Come out and surrender. Your hideout has been raided. Now you're the only one left."
Upon hearing his words, the man laughed inside and mumbled, "Haha! Do I look like an idiot? You're nothing but a dog."
Soon, the intel agent tried to open and shoot at various trash cans and black plastic bags.
Boom!
"Come out, or we'll shoot!" the intel agent said. "Surrender yourself if you don't want to die!"
The man hiding in the trash bin gritted his jaw and said to himself, 'Damn it! He's trying to provoke me. Wait, just be patient... wait for him to get careless.'
The intel agent grew suspicious of the trash bin at the end of the alley. He slowly walked closer, aiming his pistol.
Suddenly, the intel agent was startled.
He received a call from the device in his ear and said, "You startled me! What is it?!"
"Sir, we've arrived at the man's apartment. We're now in front of his room on the fifth floor," his friend whispered through the listening device.
"Good, quickly force open the apartment door and take all of his belongings," the intel agent said.
Suddenly, a cat fighting nearby, scrambling for food, shrieked. A cat ran and hit the intel agent's leg, causing him to flinch.
The man in hiding clenched his pistol.
With his left hand, he held the handle of the trash bin lid.
He opened it, threw it, and shot at the intel agent quickly.
The cat also ran away after seeing the reaction from the trash bin lid.
Boom!
Three shots flew toward the intel agent.
He didn't have time to dodge because he was still startled by the cat hitting his leg.
He saw the trash bin lid flying toward him, accompanied by the sound of bullets.
The intel agent was hit by a bullet in the head and chest, but it wasn't very deep.
However, he was hit by the trash bin lid, which made him fall.
The man didn't wait long.
He shot the intel agent's head repeatedly, making his eye pop out from behind his black glasses.
Blood spurted everywhere, and his face was now ruined by the hot lead from the bullets.
He died in a gruesome way, with blood still flowing.
The man walked up to him and searched for something inside the intel agent's jacket.
After finding it, he opened the wallet, which contained the intel agent's ID.
Stepping on him, the man walked away, saying, "Hmph! Just a amateur intel agent who thinks he's a big deal trying to find me. What an idiot!"
He put the ID in his jacket pocket.
He had already put on anti-fingerprint gloves before searching.
He walked out of the alley and said to himself, 'This has been a fun day. I am Michael, the leader of the biggest organization in M Country. Remember that.'